Cravings vs hunger

When you have a hormonal imbalance one of the things you will experience are cravings. Cravings simply being urgent feelings of hunger.  The way I can tell if it is a craving vs real hunger is when it is a craving I am in desperate search for something sweet in the form of chocolate, or salty in the form of chips, a greasy burger and fries, or a big breakfast with bacon, eggs and hash browns. 

There is a real difference in feeling, between a real feeling of hunger vs a craving and I find the best indicator is what you are wanting to eat. If you are searching for chicken, or cheese, it is more likely that you are genuinely hungry. If you are desperately needing something sweet, then 9 times out of 10 this will be simply a craving. It is incredible how our body doesn’t seek our sugar when it is genuinely hungry.

The reality is when you have a hormonal imbalance the majority of times you feel hungry throughout the day, will actually be due to cravings, not real hunger. And the reason for this, is that when you have an imbalance your body often will not go into your fat stores to pull out energy, it will instead just send you a message telling you to eat.

One of the most common cravings my clients feel is the morning after they have had some wine, maybe some chocolate, or favourite dessert, or a delicious bowl of pasta or pizza.

The next morning, despite having a large meal, they wake up famished. When you are trying to lose weight, it is these times that you need to be mindful of. Often people think if they want to lose weight then they cant eat any of the food that they deem ‘bad.’ But actually the opposite is true. To lose weight for good, we have to be able to live our lives. For myself and many of my clients, that means we want to enjoy bowls of pasta and glasses of wine.

The key to being able to lose weight without having to deprive yourself is managing for the cravings the next day. Instead of waking up, feeling the craving and then going out and having a huge burger and fries, they instead let their brain know that these feelings are natural, but that they are not caused by real hunger. And so instead of responding to it, they just let the feelings of hunger be there, sitting with the discomfort, until it eventually subsides.

One technique I teach them is to imagine the cravings as a wave. I have them watch the wave rise up. As it is rising the feelings get more and more intense. It is usually when the wave is at the top, when the feelings are at its most intense that most of us will given in. But I have them practise, watching the wave rise up and up until it eventually subsides. Because as they say what goes up, must come down.

This is a skill, watching your craving be there, without responding to them. But has you start doing this more often, you become more skilled at it. You feel less panicked, because you know that it is only a short period of time until relief is found, as the wave subsides.

I used to always think relief was found when I gave in and ate something in response to the craving. But that relief was always so fleeting. And was always followed by shame and guilt. 

So I stopped lying to myself. I stopped telling myself that I would feel better if I ate XYZ, and instead started building my muscle of watching the waves. And I can promise you, the moment of discomfort you feel as the wave increases, is so minor compared to the discomfort created from beating yourself up for eating the thing in the first place.

But the pride, the trust you build in yourself when you learn this still is incredible. I actually think being able to sit with discomfort without reacting, without responding is one of the most valuable skills we can learn in order to achieve any of our goals.

So next time you feel hungry, ask yourself, is this real hunger, or is this just a craving that I don’t need to respond to?